NATIONAL FOOD AUTHORITY (NFA) Administrator Larry Lacson said the NFA will send 2.4-million bags of rice from its stocks to Masbate and other typhoon-stricken locations.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. added that the P20 subsidized rice program will operate in Masbate for one month starting on Tuesday.
About 70,000 households were affected by typhoon Opong (international name: Bulaoi), according to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Prices have been frozen for basic agricultural goods such as rice, pork, poultry, eggs, fish, cooking oil, onions, and garlic, in keeping with measures imposed in calamity areas.
Further aid packages are expected after the Department of Agriculture completes damage assessments, it said. — Andre Christopher H. Alampay